Len Leise - Lingua Franca

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  • Two stories circulated around Len Leise's Music For Forests EP last year. The first came from releasing label International Feel, saying it was the work of an Australian library music composer, whose Songs For Sunsets tape was discovered by label head Mark Barrott in a Parisian record store's bargain bin. The second was that the music was from Barrott in disguise. Either could have been true: the gentle percussion, rustling rainforest noises and glowing rainbow tones could easily belong on the sort of new age tape with Aum symbols and dolphins on the cover. It also sounded exactly like the more patchouli-streaked parts of Barrott's Sketches From An Island album. The idea that it's Barrott has now been disproved, if you believe that Len Leise's Facebook page is genuine. Leise also demonstrated he can do more than soft-focus Balearica with the two 20-minute electronica tracks on his M Of M tape. But Lingua Franca—the first in a series of "mini-albums" on International Feel—finds him following in Barrott's footsteps again. Its seven tracks are styled as a globetrotting journey, soaking up influences from Russia, India and Morocco, among other countries. It all unfolds pleasantly enough. The bassline of "Forlorn Fields" creeps behind a curtain of vaguely Eastern chimes, "Leaving Llucmajor"'s panning effects feel like a breeze sent through a sweltering beach hut, and "Route To Reutov" has the sort of glossy sax solo best enjoyed with overpriced cocktails and the Manhattan skyline. A couple tracks, however, find Leise somewhere he's rarely been before: the dancefloor. His recent Edits 001 12-inch dipped its toes into jazzy deep house, but "O Caminho" dives into the kind of dub disco you could imagine the Idjut Boys dropping. "Tria Bells" has a bassline perkier than a double espresso. Your heart doesn't stay racing for long, though, as Leise lulls you back with closer "El Modelo."
  • Tracklist
      A1 Forlorn Fields A2 Leaving Llucmajor A3 Route To Reutov A4 Mandala Maksim B1 O Caminho B2 Tria Bells B3 El Modelo
RA